


Into The Woods

by fiveainley_ohmy



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Classic Who Secret Santa, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 19:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2784173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveainley_ohmy/pseuds/fiveainley_ohmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Jo make a getaway and have a date in a forest. For Tumblr's Classic Who Secret Santa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into The Woods

**Author's Note:**

> Written for actually-an-octopus. Hope you like it, and happy holidays! -Catie

The Doctor stormed through the doors of his TARDIS and slammed them shut. He was more fed up than a Sycorax with a bad case of the sniffles. His tea had been cold, and hadn’t had enough sugar in it to boot. Then Benton and Yates had decided to pull a prank on him that had ruined a very important experiment. Months of laboring-ruined with one well-aimed water balloon. And then he and the Brigadier had had a huge argument over something as trivial as _paperwork_. It wouldn’t have bothered him so much if Lethbridge-Stewart hadn’t been so rude about the whole matter. Well, that was the last straw. The Doctor was through with UNIT and Earth, and that was all there was to it!

“Don’t know why I even stay here,” the Doctor muttered to himself furiously as he activated his temporal altimeters. “My TARDIS is perfectly functional again, thanks to the Time Lords. The only reason I stay is because those mindless buffoons would be helpless with my guidance. I’ve saved that benighted planet so many times I’ve lost count. And do they ever thank me for my assistance? No! Well, I’m not staying in this place another microspan!” With a dramatic flip of his hand, the Doctor pulled back the main lever and sent his ship off into the Vortex.

The Doctor, for the first time today, smiled. He rubbed his hands together. “Now, let’s see what sort of trouble we can get ourselves into, old girl.”

“Doctor!” a soprano voice rang out as Jo Grant came skittering in from the inner corridors of the TARDIS and into the console room . As usual, she was dressed to the nines in the very height of 1970’s (or was it 1980’s? The Doctor could never be sure) Earth fashion: dangly rhinestone earrings, a green feather boa, a yellow and green form fitting sweater dress (that the Doctor thought to himself was just a _wee_ bit too short), and bright yellow go-go boots. “Doctor, what’s happening? We’re taking off!” Jo exclaimed shrilly.

“Jo! What the devil are you doing in my TARDIS?!” the Doctor shouted. “I don’t recall giving you permission to be in here!”

Jo’s face fell. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to intrude. I was only looking for you.”

The Doctor immediately felt guilty for raising his voice. “No, I’m sorry, my dear. It’s been something of a rotten day, none of which was your fault. Please forgive me.”

Jo smiled good-naturedly. “Oh, that’s alright. Everyone loses their temper occasionally.”

“Yes, but I shouldn’t have lost it at you,” said the Doctor.

“I forgive you,” said Jo, coming over to stand at his side. “So, where are we going?”

“We? Oh, no, I’ve got to take you home,” said the Doctor, making to reset the coordinates for UNIT headquarters. “I would have never taken off if I had known you were on board.”

“Oh, please take me with you!” Jo begged. “The office has been ever so boring today. Mike and Benton are acting like children, and the Brigadier’s been in such a bad mood.”

“Sounds like you and I have been having the same day,” smiled the Doctor. “Alright. We’ll make a getaway. How does that sound?”

“Groovy!” exclaimed Jo, clapping her hands excitedly. “Let’s go somewhere exotic!”

“Alright. How about a rainforest?” the Doctor suggested, plugging in the destination into the controls. He knew how Jo loved animals. “There’s an ideal one on the planet of Chiem. It has green and purple flamingos with six wings.”

“Ooh, that sounds nice,” said Jo, taking off her feather boa and hanging it on the hatstand by the door, since it would probably be too warm for one in a rainforest.

“Good,” said the Doctor. The TARDIS’s engines quieted as they landed. “Here are we.”

Jo took his hand, and they walked out of the door together.

“Doctor,” said Jo, looking around as they walked outside. They were a lush forest, alright, but it was just a normal wood, with no signs of special, exterrestrial flora or fauna. “This doesn’t look like an alien planet.”

The Doctor took in the normal scenery and touched his lower lip with his index finger. “Hmm. You’re right. I’m afraid this is Earth. Sorry, Jo."

“No, no, it’s alright,” said Jo quickly, touching his arm. “This place is nice too. Listen, I can hear a bird chirping.”

“Yes, but I promised I would show you the Chiem flamingos,” said the Doctor, looking frustrated with himself. “That astrological displacement unit must be faulty. First we couldn’t get to Metebelis Three, now this.”

“We can see the flamingos some other time,” Jo insisted. “Let’s just explore this place. I don’t imagine you get to see many peaceful places, do you?”

The Doctor was going to argue that UNIT HQ was peaceful enough for him and that he wanted excitement, adventure, locale. But he saw that Jo really liked this little forest, so he smiled and said, “Alright, dear. We can stay.”

“Good,” said Jo, smiling brightly. The Doctor did loved making her happy. “Come on,” she said, tugging on his hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”

The forest was rather beautiful, the Doctor had to admit. It seemed like some setting from a fairy tale, where there might be talking animals or a woodcutter’s cottage. And...well. Jo, with her golden hair and her whimsical ways, did seem like a princess.

Jo stopped to look at some squirrels in the trees. “Doctor, look!” she said. “They’re playing.”

The Doctor watched the squirrels chase each other from tree to tree, chattering and chittering like they do. “Yes, Jo, I suppose they are.”

While Jo was entranced with the woodland creatures, the Doctor spotted a rather pretty wildflower growing on the side of the little path they were on. He stooped, picked it, and stuck it behind Jo’s ear. “It’s almost as pretty as you are,” he told her with a warm smile.

“Oh, you really are a dear, aren’t you,” said Jo, leaning up on her tippy toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Come on. Let’s go see what else we can find!”


End file.
